AIDS 2016: Work on developing HIV vaccine ongoing - research council

Some 18 000 delegates including scientists, health practitioners and activists have gathered in Durban for the 21st International AIDS Conference to share insights into the latest research and developments in the fight against the epidemic that's claimed millions of lives across the world. 

Speaking to Newswatch's Khatija Nxedlana, President of the South African Medical Research Council Glenda Gray shares insights on a South African study. 

Gray says they've been working since around 2009/2010 to develop a vaccine based on the moderately efficacious vaccine used in Thailand.

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"So we've taken that and used it as our backbone. We've tried to make a new protein and boost it with an adjuvant - an adjuvant is like giving Red Bull to a vaccine to make the vaccine even stronger. So we hope that this approach will make the vaccine more potent and more durable.        

Gray says they have about 20 sites around the country in areas including Pretoria, Klerksdorp, Umtata, Ladysmith and eThekwini with 5400 South Africans enrolled.

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She says the aim is to find a vaccine that is effective for the specific strain of HIV found in South Africa.

"At the first step, my job is to make sure that we evaluate the vaccine properly and while we're evaluating it, we're talking to funders and pharmaceutical companies," she said.      

(Photo: Khatija Nxedlana)